“In a ballet practice room?!?!?!” Irene almost choked from holding her laughter and Taemin looked astonished with his cheeks up. Krystal put his head on the table while staring coyly at the ceiling – reminiscing back the thing happened that night.

“I don’t know mannequins also do ,” Taemin blurted out. “Not to mention that he is really good at it,” Krystal slyly smirked before she sipped her favorite pomegranate smoothies.

“So that means he has changed his mind, huh?” Irene asked as she leaned her back to Taemin’s chest, asking indirectly for a back hug. Taemin automatically circled his arms around her waist, hugging it tightly and placed his chin on her shoulder.

Krystal frowned and let out a bitter smile, “Of course not. The only time he let me to meet him is only in practice days which is only twice a week,” she scowled as she put her head on her arms that was piled up on the table.

Irene smiled and ran her fingers through Krystal’s hair while staring at her in pity; at her best friend’s pity love life to be exact. It must be so hard to be in love with a person that wasn’t supposed to be considered a living soul. It was as if all of these were all just fairytales that sorely felt real for here, for everybody who knows. She didn’t know what kind of sorcery are those but one thing’s that it’s gotten into their lives.

“Baby, I gotta go for class. See you later, okay?” Taemin quickly shot up and gave her a light peck on her skull. He ruffled Krystal’s hair briefly before he took his backpack and hung it on his right shoulder. He bid them goodbye and walked away.

Irene sighed – well pretty much look like relieved sigh – when he left. Krystal heard her long sigh and stared dazedly at her best friend’s sudden weird deed. She would normally whine when Taemin left. It just need seconds after Taemin disappeared and she would start to say that he miss him - exaggerating , that's what Krystal called her and would often earn a smack on her head.

“Okay…. Is there anything you want to tell me?” Krystal kept on throwing an inquiring stare to Irene but the latter quickly rebut it with a fake ‘everything’s-fine-’ look. Krystal left off her intention to bombard her with questions. She knew it so well that her best friend wouldn’t spill it out just easily. It always took a while for her to amass her matters little by little and soon she would begin to transform from the happy-go-lucky Lee Irene to a ticking bomb that could explode in any time.

“Arasso,” Krystal nonchalantly said while putting her head back onto the top of her arms. “I’m going for class now. Kkanta!” Irene ruffled her hair and quickly stormed out before Krystal scolded her for doing so.

Actually, Irene didn’t have any class to attend that afternoon. She just didn’t want to be shot by questions one after another because she herself didn’t really know exactly what’s the thing that bothered her mind. She took weak steps toward the parking lot and get inside once she reached her pink mini cooper.

She grabbed her phone to text Taemin. She texted him sorry for going home earlier and use her parents as an excused; it's the only thing Taemin couldn’t and would never be contrary to. It’s just how much protective Lee Taemin is and maybe just maybe, Irene – who had been living her 20 years of life like a free bird – had started to get qualm over his preservative type.

She inhaled long before she gripped her hands on the stir and began driving. She wasn’t going to her house yet she wasn’t planning to go anywhere – she just wanted to drive aimlessly just like old times. Wondering about things while listening to music in a maximum volume – cursing, yelling, crying, and grumbling all to her self.

“Arghhhh,” she groaned under her breath as her car stopped in the red light. She looked around while tapping her beautiful long fingers on the stir. Her eyes caught an empty street in the middle of lively streets. If streets are mortal then she could safely say that the street’s probably dead already. She parked her car on the sideways near the deserted street. She got off her car and walked toward there with no doubt.

It wasn’t really a deserted street actually. It’s just the streets weren’t fully packed and compared to the other blocks, that one had less stores opened. There were only around three or four stores  that opened. Irene roamed her eyes and haphazardly caught her eyes on a bubble tea store at the corner of the street. The interior was rather unique; it’s full with pastel colors and had cute but gigantic two puppies doll on each door’s side. Irene chuckled for the owner’s weird taste but something brought her legs walked toward the place. She took a picture of the dummies first before she climbed the three stairs and opened the store's door.

The ringing sound of the bell flinched the worker. Maybe it’s rather because the store was infrequently visited or it was because the worker’s actually sleeping that he looked so much taken aback when the bell rang. Irene